1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to dispensing apparatus and in particular to apparatus for dispensing seriatim preselected small numbers of discrete elements from a relatively large storage space.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,241 of Charles H. Wade, which patent is owned by the assignee hereof, an air transport system for use in transporting ice from an ice maker to any one of a plurality of ice storage bins is shown to include means for flowing a body of air through a distribution system to carry with it ice bodies delivered into the air stream from the ice maker. The present invention is concerned with the means for injecting the ice bodies into the air stream effectively as individual ice body elements and, thus, is concerned with eliminating the problem of clumping or crushing of ice bodies which may occur in conventional injector valves of the prior art.
A number of different devices have been developed over the years for dispensing discrete elements from a larger mass. Illustratively, Robert B. May, in U.S. Pat. No. 972,205, shows a peanut planter wherein a disk is provided with suitable openings and mounted for rotation to carry peanuts delivered into the openings in a dispensing operation. As the openings pass under an apron of a hood portion of the device, surplus nuts are swept away from those which are located or carried directly by the opening 11. Thus, any peanuts which would project upwardly from the opening would either be swept away or sheared off in the operation of the planter.
Ralph L. Ford shows, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,062,449, a dropping device for corn planters having a seed plate and an agitating plate which are rotatable. The seed is distributed on the seed plate and in the recesses thereof so that the seed in the recesses is carried underneath the bridge of the device and ejected through the recesses when the recesses are aligned with the ejector portion of the device. A spring-loaded finger is provided for facilitating discharge of the corn from the recesses. A bridge device is provided which may shear the corn projecting upwardly from the recesses.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,172,603, Nelson P. Johnson shows a measuring and dispensing device for granulated soap. The device includes an agitator at the lower portion of the hopper and is provided with a disklike rotor having cavities spaced circumferentially about its periphery for delivering the particular soap from the hopper to a discharge zone. A spring finger is provided for urging the soap from the cavities of the rotor at the discharge position. The soap in the cavities is exposed to the soap in the hopper above the cavities as the rotor is rotated to bring the respective recesses thereof to the discharge zone.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,901,203, G. S. Thompson shows a coal feeder wherein finely divided coal is loosened by agitators to fall into slots of a feed disk. The feed disk is rotated to carry the coal in the slots thereof in measured quantities into a discharge compartment. Thompson teaches that surplus coal is scraped off the surface of the disk by the edge of a partition during operation of the device.
Charles H. White, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,297,642, shows a peanut planter wherein sprial shaped ridges on the seed plate force the peanuts radially outwardly towards the seed cells at the periphery of the plate. Scalloped edges on the bottom ring of the device exert an action on the peanuts tending to prevent bridging and to turn the peanuts so that they drop lengthwise into the seed cells.
William A. Eschenburg et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,969,650, show an ice making and vending machine utilizing an auger-type agitator for preventing coherence or fusing between contacting ice bodies.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,075,363 of Armando F. Conto, an ice dispensing attachment for beverage dispensing machines is shown for dispensing chipped ice from the bottom of a hopper. A wiper plate is provided for cooperation with an upper edge of a duct to level off the ice within the transport chamber so that when the chamber is disposed in overlying relationship to the discharge opening, a measured quantity of ice substantially equal to the volume of the chamber will drop downwardly into the discharge duct.
Donald L. Dickinson, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,101,872, shows an ice storing and dispensing mechanism which is similar to Conto in providing scraped or crushed ice and provides an ice scraper which is secured to the inner wall of the ice hopper for cutting and channeling the crushed or chipped ice radially inwardly from the hopper wall.
Paul F. Burton et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,144,965, show an ice storage and dispensing hopper having a rotatable plate at the bottom thereof provided with a removable cup. The rotatable plate is disposed subjacent a stationary plate so that ice from the hopper may drop into and fill the cup carried by the rotatable plate. Rotation of the rotatable plate then carries the measuring cup under the stationary plate which shears off any portion of the ice extending upwardly from the cup so that only the measured charge of ice to be dispensed is delivered by the cup under the overlying stationary plate.